Ep. 62 – Tony Robbins: Money Is Just A Game

Tony Robbins has a new book out today. For the first time in 25 years I think. So, Claudia and I went down to meet with him so I could interview him for The James Altucher Show.

I was really excited to fly down to his house in Florida and interview him. It was like going down to visit a member of the X-Men.

Claudia and I got to his house and his staff helped us set up our equipment and then we took a walk out to the ocean. It was beautiful. We felt lucky and relaxed.

Then we went back inside. I told Claudia to start the recording before Tony even showed up. So we could pick up all idle chit chat. When Tony arrived we started talking and he said, “This is good. We should record this” and then he laughed when Claudia said we were already recording.

The book is called “Money” a topic I sometimes know a lot about and sometimes know nothing about. I ran hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and have advised many money managers, often people managing billions of dollars.

Tony took it one step further and interviewed the top money managers in the world, how they do what they do. He exposed many of the scams still on Wall Street. He gives simple advice that everyone can follow.

We spoke for an hour. Here’s what I learned from the book and from talking to him.

Episode Summary:

[4:00] Tony discusses the goal of his latest book and the countless number of billionaires, entrepreneurs and academics interviewed

[6:30] The kind of thieves that steal peoples money and how to get to your monetary goal 10 to 15 years faster

[19:25] The 7 steps to financial freedom

[20:30] The 3 financial goals Tony wants people to set

[27:00] The one question he asks in all of his seminars all over the world and the answer he always gets

[30:50] His story of visiting Carl Icahn on the day he made 2 billion dollars

[35:00] His negotiation with a general in the Army that he could take any program, cut the learning time in half and increase the competency. He describes what he learned as he practiced the goal and how it relates to meeting your own financial goals

[37:00] The amount of money that it takes to have financial freedom

[42:45] The heat that Tony took when he announced he was writing a book about money being a game

[43:30] What Tony would do right now if he had to start from scratch

[46:00] The choice you have to make when you start over

[48:25] What it was like to be called by President Clinton

[50:00] The one thing from the confidential information that Tony can tell us about his conversation with Bill Clinton

[52:00] What it really takes to be effective and how to influence people that don’t think like you